As increasing numbers of intravenous anesthetics and adjuvants are becoming available, the authors of Intravenous Anesthesia and Analgesia have set out to summarize current knowledge in this field. Corssen, Reves, and Stanley each have formidable backgrounds in the use of intravenous agents in anesthesia. They present their text as one that will provide detailed information on agents and techniques to a wide variety of readers, from medical students through practicing anesthesiologists. The book's 16 chapters begin with the history of intravenous anesthesia and prospects for the future and proceed to cover narcotics, barbiturates, dissociative anesthesia, neuro-leptanesthesia, benzodiazepines, and some of the commonly used agents from Europe.
The narcotic compounds are covered in four chapters. The first is a concise, well-referenced history of narcotics in anesthesia. The next chapter, on chemistry of narcotics, is a description of the endogenous opiate system and some structure activity relationships, directed toward the clinician. Chapter